


The Balloon

by AnathemaAuthoress



Series: Power Outage Prompts [2]
Category: The Goldfinch (2019)
Genre: Balloons, Drabble, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 02:55:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 429
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28138041
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AnathemaAuthoress/pseuds/AnathemaAuthoress
Summary: Prompt: Boris/Theo, A Perfectly Circular Balloon
Relationships: Theodore Decker/Boris Pavlikovsky
Series: Power Outage Prompts [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2061396
Kudos: 7





	The Balloon

Convenient stores became a regular part of the ritual of living with Boris. We’d stock vaguely sticky blue and yellow baskets with brandless wine, Hershey bars, and whatever else his Russian tongue waggled for on any given trip.

That evening, Boris was already tipsy on two thumbs of vodka and—I knew—a few swigs of whiskey from the flask in his coat that he tried to conceal from me. Just liquored enough to be giggly and pleasant, introspective, but not to the point of self-loathing.

I was weighing my desire for Cheetos against the inevitable acrid, artificial cheesy taste sure to stick to the back of my teeth should the night turn wild and the snack find its way back up. When suddenly Boris was gasping, “Potter, pst, Potter! Come look—you must—you  _ need _ to see this!”

I ignored him a bit too long, felt spindly fingers engulf my wrist and his surprising strength as he nearly pulled me off my feet and around the aisle corner.

“Look it, Potter. A thing of beauty.“

It took me a moment to realize he was gesturing to the balloons tied to the railing of a flower stand. Not all of the balloons, of course, many of which were the foil kind and expressed gratitude, celebration, and sympathy.

Just one, a lone rubber orb, green and glowing in the cheap fluorescents. It caught my attention too for how out of place it seemed and for how perfectly round it was. It lacked all of the cylindrical teardrop nature that its sort usually possessed. In fact, it looked almost as if it was trying to blend in, to become like its foil brothers by sheer force of roundness.

I cannot properly quantify, nor adequately express the forlornness this object made me feel.

“You see it? It speaks to you, yes?“ Boris’s eyes were sparkling, probing me for meaning in his drunken delusions. I didn’t humor him nor share with him the melancholy the silly balloon inspired in me. Instead, I walked over and unfurled it—with some difficulty—from the stand, brought it over and tied it loosely about Boris’s wrist.

He bounced it twice, merrily like a child, to see if it would come loose. He went through the checkout like this, humming and bobbing with it, occasionally gripping the ribbon out of amusement. 

And in the dark of the night, with street lamps illuminating it a striking emerald, the perfectly circular balloon no longer looked so lonesome, so lost and struggling. On Boris, in the open, it looked radiant.

**Author's Note:**

> I swear I'm working on a real fic for this couple too, but in the meantime, hiii Goldfinch fandom! <3


End file.
